Nonstop flight route between Bury St. Edmunds, England, United Kingdom and Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Honington USAAF Station 375 (BEQ), Bury St. Edmunds, England, United Kingdom and Santa Maria Airport (RIA), Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,551 miles (or 10,543 kilometers).

A Great Circle is the shortest distance between 2 points on a sphere. Because most world maps are flat (but the Earth is round), the route of the shortest distance between 2 points on the Earth will often appear curved when viewed on a flat map, especially for long distances. If you were to simply draw a straight line on a flat map and measure a very long distance, it would likely be much further than if you were to lay a string between those two points on a globe. Because of the large distance between RAF Honington USAAF Station 375 and Santa Maria Airport, the route shown on this map most likely appears curved because of this reason.

Try it at home! Get a globe and tightly lay a string between RAF Honington USAAF Station 375 and Santa Maria Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about RAF Honington USAAF Station 375 (BEQ):

• The closest airport to RAF Honington USAAF Station 375 (BEQ) is RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) WNW of BEQ.
• Royal Air Force Honington or more simply RAF Honington is a Royal Air Force station located 6 mi south of Thetford near Ixworth in Suffolk, England.
• RAF Honington is also now home to 611 Volunteer Gliding Squadron due to the closure of RAF Watton in April 2012, requiring their conversion to the Grob 109B Vigilant motor glider.
• Although the last mission by the 364th took place on 25 April 1945, the group did not depart until November, returning to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, for inactivation.
• In June 1942, the airfield was transferred to the USAAF and was upgraded to a Class A Bomber base.
• With the departure of the USAAF in February 1946, Honington airfield was returned to the RAF.
• The furthest airport from RAF Honington USAAF Station 375 (BEQ) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,834 miles (19,044 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The 364th also flew air-sea rescue missions, engaged in patrol activities, and continued to support ground forces as the battle line moved through France and into Germany.

Facts about Santa Maria Airport (RIA):

• Santa Maria Airport (RIA) has 2 runways.
• In 1944 the President of Brazil Getúlio Vargas allocated an area of 4 million square meters near Santa Maria with the purpose of building an aerodrome.
• The airport is located 11 km east of downtown Santa Maria.
• The closest airport to Santa Maria Airport (RIA) is João Batista Bos Filho Airport (IJU), which is located 93 miles (150 kilometers) N of RIA.
• Because of Santa Maria Airport's relatively low elevation of 289 feet, planes can take off or land at Santa Maria Airport at a lower air speed than at airports located at a higher elevation. This is because the air density is higher closer to sea level than it would otherwise be at higher elevations.
• The furthest airport from Santa Maria Airport (RIA) is Aguni Airport (AGJ), which is nearly antipodal to Santa Maria Airport (meaning Santa Maria Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Aguni Airport), and is located 12,214 miles (19,656 kilometers) away in Aguni, Japan.
• In addition to being known as "Santa Maria Airport", another name for RIA is "Aeroporto de Santa Maria".